High San Diego veteran suicide rate demands immediate response

AP

In this March 27, 2014 file photo, with the Capitol in the background, Army veteran David Dickerson of Oklahoma City, Okla., joins in a tribune at the National Mall in Washington to veterans and service members who have died by suicide.

In this March 27, 2014 file photo, with the Capitol in the background, Army veteran David Dickerson of Oklahoma City, Okla., joins in a tribune at the National Mall in Washington to veterans and service members who have died by suicide. (AP)

Respect for military veterans is a core American value, long eloquently articulated by the nation’s commanders-in-chief. “We remember those who were called upon to give all a person can give, and we remember those who were prepared to make that sacrifice if it were demanded of them in the line of duty, though it never was,” President Ronald Reagan declared in 1988. “Most of all, we remember the devotion and gallantry with which all of them ennobled their nation.” In 2010, President Barack Obama said Americans shouldn’t just honor veterans on Veterans Day: “It’s about how we treat our veterans every single day of the year. It’s about making sure they have the care they need and the benefits that they’ve earned when they come home.”

These are fine and worthy sentiments. But it is a grim fact of modern life that they have not always translated into the support and care needed by a significant number of America’s 18 million veterans.

Now a shocking new report suggests that this problem may be particularly acute in San Diego County, home to 240,000-plus veterans. According to the state Department of Public Health, veterans in the county last year were 50 percent more likely to kill themselves than veterans nationwide. For every 100,000 veterans in the county, 45 committed suicide in 2017. The national figure is 30 per 100,000. The number for the general population is 14 per 100,000.

The first response to this report should be a community-wide push to encourage veterans who have suicidal thoughts or any mental health issues to get treatment. Veterans with mental health problems are often reluctant to seek care because of negative stigmas. Those in veterans’ lives should do all they can to be supportive and to emphasize that help is available. Those who don’t seek help leave themselves at risk of awful, irreversible decisions.

The second response to this report should be determining whether the Department of Veterans Affairs is giving the proper help to veterans who do seek care. A Dec. 18 Government Accountability Office study showed that in the 2018 fiscal year, the VA, without explanation, had all but stopped suicide prevention media outreach campaigns, spending less than 1 percent of the $6.2 million available. And a 2016 investigation showed a local veteran attempted suicide after the San Diego Hospital VA staff repeatedly canceled his appointments. That was part of a larger national scandal in which VA hospitals frequently manipulated records to create the impression they were doing a good job.

While a review in The Washington Post last month found that this problem had significantly eased, profound questions remain. A 2017 study by the RAND think tank of the mental health care available to service members said far more should be done to systematically gather information about the degree and nature of mental health problems that individuals faced — while they are still serving. This information could form the basis for evidence-based best practices to treat veterans. The RAND report said that while the military did a very good job at using screening to identify those at risk of suicide, its follow-up efforts were often unfocused.

This must change because the promise of evidence-based mental-health help is on plain view in the privately funded Welcome Back Veterans initiative launched in 2008. Seven medical schools set up comprehensive safety nets to support veterans, service members and their families. In March, the RAND Health Quarterly reported the program had made significant strides in improving care — but needed more public and philanthropic support.

That’s true of veterans in general. Helping the service men and women who ennoble America must remain an urgent national priority.